-----

Within the large castle of the capital of the Kingdom of Aquaria, an old man, seemingly in his sixties with a long blue beard and hair, wearing royal and golden-colored clothes while having a large crown atop his head rested atop his glorious throne.

​​

Although his appearance and presence leaked the dominance and authority of a true King, he seemed old, pale, and worried.

Just a few days ago, he got the reports that one of his grandsons, Frank Aquaria, who he had given the title of Duke of the Sapphira Duchy had been found dead.

He did not really have much of a connection with his grandson, and he was well aware that Frank was spoiled and quite rotten, but due to the pressure of his daughter, the mother of Frank, he ended up giving up a small duchy for Frank to possess.

The notice of his death did make him quite sad, although he had more of a bond with his daughter, Frank's mother, than with Frank himself.

However, what really impacted him to the point of becoming completely pale was not that Frank just died, because he could have perfectly died of some kind of disease or by falling off the stairs… but he had a very gruesome and horrible death.

He was tortured agonizingly until his very last breath.

The reports that came included most of the tortures Frank underwent, such as his genitals being crushed by a hammer, his entire body punctured by tiny needles, his throat being burnt with boiling water, his eyes being dissolved with acid, and all of the skin of his face being stripped off and stuck with nails into the desk…

"Gods… Frank, what has happened to you…?" sighed the King, his aquamarine eyes devoid of any light.

The worst part is that now he would have to tell his daughter about this, which she has not gotten any info yet by his orders, if anyone would ever tell her about the death of her son, it would be him and no one else…

"Who… Who could have done such a thing…" muttered the King.

"Sir, we suspect that those that did this to Duke Frank were the same ones that defeated Graham Gold and Albert Miller alongside their army… The Half-Demon boy and the presumed Sentient Living Armor," said one of the soldiers at the King's side.

"So this was because of revenge?" wondered the King.

"It is presumed so. Although alongside the death of Duke Frank, it has been reported that the dozens of slaves that he held captive within the underground dungeons of his manor were also taken away… Presumably, the Half-Demon rescued them and… punished Duke Frank for what he had done to these creatures," said another soldier.

Although the King knew that Frank had very wicked tendencies and was aware that he held some sexual slaves with him, he could have never guessed that Frank's obsession with sexual slaves had gone so far as to keep dozens of demi-humans within his manor's dungeon, which he tortured and violated every day.

Even for a supposedly Kingdom that sided with the Empire of Bestellen, such acts were seen as horrible, nonetheless.

The King, who never actually held any hate nor discrimination against other races than humans, elves, and dwarves, was forced to become an extremist to secure his Kingdom's survival and prosperity from the looming shadow of the Empire of Bestellen.

If he did not make his Kingdom an extremist Kingdom, he would have been most likely 'mysteriously assassinated' and then had the Kingdom taken over by the Empire in a variety of different ways which they had already done with the nations that did not agree to their conditions for an alliance.

Although he disliked such things, the King was a real man and knew very well that the people needed something to target their hate to, so the nations and duchies could be kept unified against a common threat.

Such a philosophy has been used since civilizations were born in this continent and the Bright Gods led humans, elves, and dwarves into 'prosperity'.

The King himself had to admit that a part of the economy of this country was being held by the thousands of slaves that were kept from demi-human tribes.

As they offered free work hand without the necessity for loans, they maintained several crops, and even the economy to extent, several aristocratic families were so used to have dozens of slaves that even children would be given one when they reached ten years of age.

"Is this retribution for what we had done this entire time? Perhaps the Dark Gods had chosen a new hero… and this is what we had coming for us… We have committed too many sins, and Razdall, the God of Darkness and Sins had enough…" thought the King.

The threat of a new and immensely strong boy that was not even three years of age being capable of defeating an entire army alongside Graham Gold and Albert Miller, whose strength was comparable to A-Rank Adventurers on their peak was indeed incredibly worrying.

If he were told by anyone else than his servants, he would not have believed it.

After all, how such a young boy could possess such tremendous power?

It was as if he was indeed blessed by the gods and given incommensurable power to finally avenge its kin.

Hence, the King thought of it as a herald of destruction, the one who would bring punishment and retribution to all the sinners that had brought suffering to the Demi-human races.

They called him the Demon King.

"If he is capable of growing strong so fast… Would the other Five Constellations even stand a chance?" wondered the King, sighing as his soldiers remained in silence, they were thinking similarly to him.

If such a being existed, was there any chance for humanity to even fight back?

Alongside the reports that came from the Eye of Shadow, Gregor, it was said that the Demon King was not alone either.

He had an enormous army made up of various tribes of demons and beast-kin, and even vampires were seen with him.

Alongside this, he was also an exceptional monster tamer, and held several calamity-class monsters with enough strength to wipe out an entire city, whose he had total control over and even cooperated with other soldiers, seemingly showing amazing intelligence as well.

Even monsters served him, he and the Living Armor, that's it…

"This Living Armor… Is it… really true? How can it… be so strong, and it could even talk? Could it be another Demon King?" wondered the King.

"His Majesty, alongside the reports, came something included about the fight between the half-demon and Graham Gold… At some point, Graham Gold was killed by the half-demon but was revived by the grace of Bestellen into a Familiar Spirit. At that point, it was thought that the half-demon would be finally defeated, but this Living Armor and a Human joined the half-demon, and converged with him into a single being… Which Graham called "The True Demon King"…" said one soldier, reading a book of reports.

"Are you telling me that they fused?! How is that even possible?!" asked the King.

"I don't know, Majesty… But it seems that it is what Gregor reported," said the soldier.

"Fused… We are truly doomed…" sighed the King, as a sudden mass of shadows emerged at his side, surprising the King and his guards!

The guards quickly pointed their spears at the shadow, as the King was left in shock!

"Y-You are… lower your weapons!" said the King.

"But King…!"

"Wait, that's…!"

"It's him…!"

The figure disappeared as it revealed a slender man wearing black rogue clothes, covering most of his face with a hoodie, only revealing his smile beneath it.

"Oh my, what a nice welcome!" he said.

"Gregor…"

"The Eye of Shadow!"

"The Eye of Shadows Gregor…"

"That's me. Hello King, I've been sent here to talk a bit with you," said Gregor.

"With… me?" asked the King.

"It seems that you don't know about it yet… Oh, my bad… Well, the High Pope and Bestellen himself had decided to revoke your position as the King of Aquaria," said Gregor with a carefree demeanor.

"Eh?!"

"What is the meaning of this?!"

"You insolent!"

The Soldiers roared in anger as Gregor dropped those words.

"What…? Why?! Who do you think you are to revoke me from my own throne, from my own Kingdom?! And we are also allies of the Empire of Bestellen!" said the King.

"Well, it's rather easy. The High Pope and the Five Constellations- My bad, the Four Constellations have decided that you are at fault for a lot of the damage we received. Due to your irresponsibility as a King and to let your son be so irresponsible to not send better soldiers to catch the Half-Demon while he was still weak, alongside Duke Frank not being well educated to be able to rely on you more. If you had reported things to the Empire faster we could have saved a lot of resources and people. Also, the death of Graham is a big loss for the Empire," said Gregor.

"…What? What kind of reason is that?! It feels way too convenient! I am not in fault of this, and Frank is dead now!" said the King.

"Huh? So you are not taking responsibility even after your grandson was killed? What a King!" laughed Gregor.

"How dare you be so insolent in front of our majesty!"

"Take back those words!"

"Step back from the King!"

"Hah? And what are a bunch of ants going to do against me? I was given the chance to do whatever I wanted with the King, so scram off," said Gregor, releasing a wave of shadows shaped as thin needles, stabbing every soldier hundreds of times!

"UNNGAAAAHH…!"

"GGYAAAAHH…!"

"KING-SAMAAA…!"

In less than ten seconds, all of the guards died by a swipe of Gregor's hands.

"W-What… do you want from me? I will… not let you do as you please!" roared the King, conjuring a magic circle and firing a large fireball!

Flash!

"Pathetic…" said Gregor, waving the fireball away with his shadows and noticing that the King was running away.

"Oi, where do you think you're going?" asked Gregor, rushing towards the King in an instant by traveling directly into his shadow!

"Ah!"

"Shadow Whip," said Gregor, conjuring a whip of shadows and capturing the King, dragging him back to the throne!

"Unhand me! What are you going to do with me?! You can't possibly… The Empire of Bestellen is filled with corrupts!" roared the King.

"Haha, you're quite energetic… Let's see how much you can keep barking after I play around with you a bit more," said Gregor, taking out several smaller tools from his shadows!

"W-What?! Move… move that away from me! NNGGYAAAAHH…!"

"Sorry, but the bosses told me that we have to make it seem as if the Half-Demon Boy tortured and killed you like your grandson… So bear with me as I torture you until you die of agony, haha…" laughed Gregor, as his eyes gleamed with an eerie crimson light.

The King was filled with fear and frustration as his eyes became darker, his agonizing cries filled the entire Castle…

-----

Within a completely white palace, a stoic young man with blonde hair and aquamarine eyes wearing pope clothes sat down on a throne of gold.

"How did things go?"

"Gregor has successfully infiltrated into the Aquaria's King's Castle and has done as he was ordered, taking out any bystanders as well… which ended in almost the complete wipeout of the people living in the castle…"

"Sigh… Does he really have to go that far? Well, whatever it is, he is chosen by Bestellen-sama. And Bestellen-sama has told me that the best way to increase the hate of our people against the half-demon and the future plans he will hold is to make his reputation as terrible as possible."

"But even then… Isn't this method a bit extreme?"

"Well, a bit. But sacrifices are needed for the greater good."

-----